


like iron on his lips

by Professor_Lollipop



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Violence, ambiguous setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 15:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16266716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Professor_Lollipop/pseuds/Professor_Lollipop
Summary: Roy hates when Ed comes back from assignment bleeding and bruised.





	like iron on his lips

**Author's Note:**

> i've been on a 3 week royed fic binge and finally caved and had to write something

Ed saunters into the office like he owns the place, kicking the door closed behind him and making a beeline for the couch. He collapses onto it with all the grace of a house cat and kicks his mud-encrusted boots up onto the coffee table, resting his arms over the back. 

For all the world, he looks untouchable and nonchalant. Roy watches him from his seat behind his desk, and he doesn’t miss the way Ed bites back a hiss and shifts his weight off his left side, nor does he miss the way blood trickles from his lip. 

Ed finally deigns to look at him, and when he grins his teeth are as red as his coat. “Sorry I’m late,” he says, and Roy stifles the urge to snort—the day Edward Elric actually gives a shit about punctuality is the day pigs will fly—and lets him continue. “Got held up at the station.” 

“Doing what?” Roy asks, and pointedly runs his gaze over Ed’s disheveled appearance. There’s a dark mark blooming on his cheek beneath his eye, and Roy clenches his fists. “Get into a fight with the homeless again?” 

“Fuck you,” Ed snips, and he licks his lip where it’s bleeding. “For your information, they were thugs that were feeling a little uppity, and I just happened to be around to put them in their place.” 

“You’re not supposed to be getting into fights with civilians, Fullmetal.” 

“They started it,” Ed huffs. He hisses again, bringing a hand to his side, and Roy is up out of his seat in a heartbeat. He crosses the room to the couch and kneels in front of Ed, finally checking the extent of the damage for himself. Black eye, split lip, and bruised ribs judging from the way Ed winces as Roy’s fingers press gently against his left side. No automail damage, or he’d have been bitching about the bitching out Winry would be doing once he sees her again. 

All in all, nothing that he hasn’t gone through before, but it still makes Roy’s stomach roll to see him hurt like this. He lets his hands move up to cup Ed’s face, tilting it to see the bruising better. He skims his thumb over it, and Ed’s eye flutters at the caress. 

“Always so chivalrous,” Roy murmurs, lips twitching, but the smile won’t come. His voice is full of the worry he feels, and he lets it out—there’s no point hiding behind a mask right now. “Ready to throw your own well-being away for others. Do you ever think about yourself, Edward?” 

Ed rolls his eyes, leaning into Roy’s touch. “If I did that you wouldn’t have anyone to call you on your own self-absorbed bullshit.” He takes a deep breath, slumping further into the couch, and Roy sees the exhaustion beginning to weigh him down. “I’m sorry,” he adds. “I didn’t mean to.” 

 _I didn’t mean to make you worry_ , he means.  _I didn’t mean to play the hero, but that’s who I am._  And Roy can’t fault him for it—he wouldn’t be Ed if he didn’t jump in to help where he felt he was needed, if he knew he could do something. Or even if he couldn’t. 

A swell of love fills Roy, and he finds his smile. He shakes his head and leans forward, pressing a soft, barely-there kiss to the non-split corner of Ed’s mouth, and chuckles when Ed tries to turn his head and catch him in an actual kiss. He indulges him with a lingering, chaste kiss, then pulls back to swipe his thumb over Ed’s cheek again. 

“I bet if we ask really nice,” Roy says, “Hawkeye just might let us go early so I can help clean you up.” 

Ed’s lips have curled into a smirk, eyebrows raised in amusement. “Did you finish all your paperwork?” 

Roy pointedly ignores the piles of folders sitting on his desk, standing from his crouch and wiping invisible dust from his pants. He holds his hands out to Ed, who takes them and lets Roy pull him up. 

“You could always just transmute a set of stairs from the window?” Roy suggests, and he smiles as Ed throws his head back and laughs at him. He lets Ed push him back towards his desk, making a show of pouting as Ed wrangles him into his chair. 

“Do your fuckin’ job, Roy,” Ed says. “I got here just fine by myself, I can get home just fine by myself, too.” 

“Can you?” Roy eyes him. “You couldn’t even get out of the train station unscathed.” 

“I  _can,_ ” Ed emphasizes, “and I will. Al’s waiting downstairs, he’ll chauffeur me home. Don’t worry.” 

“About you?” Roy leans his head on a fist, giving Ed a soft look. “Not possible.” 

Ed rolls his eyes again. “Sap.” He leans down to kiss Roy again, and he tastes like iron. 

**Author's Note:**

> twitter @duscaenorange


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